According to the most recent statistics available, as many as 15% of all reviews online are fraudulent.
Yet, online reviews have an enormous power of influence over our decisions on where to eat, what to buy and where we work. Consider this astonishing statistic from Brightlocal that states that 91% of millennials trust online reviews as much as friends and family.
In other words, 64 million people in the US are trusting the opinions of strangers as much as they are of the people in their closest network of family and friends. And, over 80% of consumers (yes, I’m in there) have changed their minds about a recommended purchase after reading negative online reviews.
In the world of work, positive workplace reviews are equally important in the decision-making process. A recent Indeed report cited that 95%of job seekers consider a company’s workplace reputation—what it is like to work there—slightly to extremely influential on their decision to apply to a job there.
That accounts for one reason that Glassdoor, a popular review site where current and former employees anonymously review companies was recently acquired for $1.2 billion.
There is an astonishing power of strangers to persuade but what are they really reviewing?
- On TripAdvisor, one 1-star review of the Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World complained about the vendors, the con artists and the garbage. Helpful, yes, but what about the Pyramids?
- I recently read the online reviews of a top oncologist working at one of the most prestigious Cancer Centers in the world. Rather than start with the 5 star reviews, I first went to the 1 stars to read the comments. Among the most negative were about the time it took to get an appointment, the cost of the lab bills and number of times the patient was put on hold by the receptionist. And while these may be a significant factor in the patient experience, when searching for an oncologist what is it that we are really trying to decide? In my view I would want to know “Did this person cure your cancer?”
On company culture, the quality of the company workplace reviews seem even more dubious to me.
That is because the reviews are anonymous, self-certified, and could be written by the same person using multiple accounts. Furthermore, they could reflect one person’s axe to grind or a unique or outdated situation that has already been addressed and rectified. And, while Glassdoor technically doesn’t allow companies to incentivize employees for leaving positive reviews, they do offer templates that result in more positive reviews.
A 2016 study published in The Journal of Consumer Research found that there was little correlation to objective quality in online reviews. Reviews are subjective and reflect the opinions of a small subset of people- 15 out of 1,000.
Looking again to Glassdoor, Amazon has only 36k reviews while they have about 750,000 employees. That’s about 4% of the workplace.
Yet all this aside, as a consumer I love the ability I have to leave a review about anything. I am empowered, I am an influencer and I tend to leave more negative reviews than positive ones. That puts me in the majority.
The White House Office of Consumer Affair states that a dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. In fact, around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. Yet a happy customer may tell only 4-6 people about their experience.
In summary, I think Caroline Beaton summed it up best in her 2018 New York Times article entitled “Why You Can’t Really Trust Negative Online Reviews.”
“The Great Wall of China has more than 9,000 Google reviews, with an average of 4.2 stars. Not bad for one of the most astonishing achievements in human history.
But you can’t please everyone.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
